Florida Officially Awarded to Barack Obama

The final electoral vote count is finally in after President Barack Obama was officially declared the winner in Florida earlier this morning.

Florida's 29 electoral votes were awarded to Obama earlier today, meaning that the President ended up with a total of 332 electoral votes. Republican nominee Mitt Romney, on the other hand, finished with 206 electoral votes.

The Florida Secretary of State's Office reported today that President Obama currently leads Mitt Romney 50% to 49.1% in the state of Florida. Nearly 100% of the votes have been counted, which makes Obama's 74,000 vote lead insurmountable at this point.

In 2000, the nation (and world) held their collective breath as Florida conducted a lengthy recount. The Supreme Court eventually declared George W. Bush the winner - just 537 votes ended up deciding the 2000 Presidential election.

Florida was also a closely contested contest in 2012, as it was eventually decided by just 74,000 votes. The difference this time was that the Democrats were able to win the election without Florida, so this was just a feather in their cap.

--

All told, President Obama ended up winning eight of the nine "swing states". Florida, Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Virginia, Colorado and Nevada all ended up going Obama's way, while North Carolina went to Mitt Romney.